Democratic mayoral hopeful and former banking executive Joe Paul says he will utilize his business expertise if he is elected as Stratford mayor, at his condominium complex on the Housatonic River in Stratford on Thursday, July 11, 2013. less

Democratic mayoral hopeful and former banking executive Joe Paul says he will utilize his business expertise if he is elected as Stratford mayor, at his condominium complex on the Housatonic River in Stratford ... more

But first, she'll have to survive a Sept. 10 primary against her opponent, Joe Paul.

After the 38-27 vote in the Baldwin Center on Wednesday night, Daponte ripped into the Harkins administration for "its lack of vision, creativity and initiative that has put Stratford on the wrong path."

Daponte said that her administration would stress economic development, efficiency and transparency, adding that "there's only one person" working on economic development in Town Hall.

"I thought it was the mayor's job to work on economic development," she said, "and I know there's more than one person working in the mayor's office."

Daponte said that Stratford needs to "attract a creative class" by focusing on amenities.

"We need to open the American Shakespeare Theatre," she said, "because it can become an engine of economic development and also because it has become symbolic of Stratford's past failures."

In her acceptance speech, Daponte also accused Harkins of running a mayor's office that lacked transparency.

"One should not have to go through layers of bureaucracy to find the mayor, only to find his door closed," Daponte said, adding she "would aggressively put an end to blight -- it's the scourge of our community."

Paul, a former executive vice president at Bank of America who now sits on the Planning Commission, said he was undaunted by the DTC's decision.

"We expected that this was the way it was going to turn out, and now it's time for the people to have their say in this," Paul said during a break in the busy meeting, which also saw the DTC select candidates for 10 Town Council seats and other underticket positions.